Toh 2386 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Distinguishing the Mode of Abiding of the Mahāyāna

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2386
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt
Extent: 1 passages · 1,112 Tibetan characters · 283 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This brief introductory fragment establishes the conceptual framework for a treatise titled Distinguishing the Mode of Abiding of the Mahāyāna. The text positions the essence of the Mahāyāna as a state of great bliss, metaphorically described as nectar. The primary philosophical objective is the resolution of ontological or epistemological tensions, specifically the removal of the disease of the extremes and the center. By targeting these three positions, the text commits the reader to a non-dual perspective that transcends the binary of eternalism and nihilism, as well as the potential fallacy of a middle position that merely averages the two. The work opens with a traditional invocation to Heruka, signaling its alignment with Vajrayāna frameworks while addressing the foundational philosophical concerns of the Great Vehicle.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise addressing the essence of the Great Vehicle, the Mahāyānasthitiniścaya (Tibetan: theg pa chen po'i gnas lugs gtan la 'bebs pa) originates from the Indian tradition and is attributed to the author Dhokhandhi. Preserved within the Tengyur (vol. ཟི), the work is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works collection of the classical Tibetan period. The text opens with an invocation to Heruka and positions the essence of the Mahāyāna as the nectar of the ocean of great bliss. It seeks to clear away the disease of the extremes and the center, aiming for a non-dual perspective that transcends the binary of eternalism and nihilism as well as the fallacy of a middle position that merely averages the two. Scholars and serious readers consult this single-page work to examine how it resolves these ontological and epistemological tensions through the wisdom of the knower and the known, aligning foundational philosophical concerns of the Great Vehicle with the frameworks of the Vajrayāna.

Sanskrit title: Mahāyānasthitiniścaya
Indian author: Dhokhandhi
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཟི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Distinguishing the Mode of Abiding of the Mahāyāna” (Toh 2386), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2386

Summary & commentary

Significance

The text is significant for its attempt to refine the Middle Way by addressing not only the two extremes but also the center. This suggests a sophisticated approach to emptiness and bliss common in the intersection of Madhyamaka and Tantra.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction	Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Heruka, and a concise statement on the nature of the Mahāyāna as a remedy for the extremes and the center.

Themes

Non-duality and the Three Extremes (1)
Great Bliss (1)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaDistinguishing the Mode of Abiding of the Mahāyāna·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། མ་ཧཱ་ཡཱ་ན་ཨ་པ་ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་གནས་ལུགས་གཏན་ལ་འབེབས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བདག་ཉིད་ནི། ། བདེ་ཆེན་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་བདུད་རྩི་ནི། ། མཐའ་དབུས་མཉམ་པའི་ཚད་ནད་སེལ། ། དགའ་བ་ཆེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ཐེག་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་གྱུར་པ། ། ཤེས་དང་ཤེས་བྱའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི། ། གཞན་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་རང་ལ་མིན། ། བདག་གིས་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པར་བྱ། ། འཛིན་དང་འཛིན་བྱའི་རིག་པ་ནི། ། སོ་སོའི་ལས་དང་རྣམ་པར་ལྡན། ། དངོས་པོ་གཟུགས་ཅན་འཆིང་བའི་རྒྱུ། ། ཕྱི་དང་ནང་གི་གཟུགས་མེད་པས། ། དེ་ཉིད་མ་གྲུབ་གཉིས་མེད་དོ། ། གང་ཞིག་འཛིན་པ་གཟུགས་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། འཛིན་པ་མེད་པས་དེ་ཉིད་དོ། ། དེ་ནི་དམ་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏེ། ། ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཁ་དོག་དབྱིབས་དང་བྲལ། ། མཁས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་རང་རིག་རྟོགས། ། གང་ཞིག་རིག་པ་སྟོང་པ་དེ། ། སྟོང་པ་མིན་ལ་རིག་པ་མིན། ། འདི་དག་ཐམས་ཅད་རང་འགག་གོ། ། བདེན་གཉིས་བྲལ་བའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱིས། ། སྟོང་ཉིད་རིག་པའི་ལྟ་བ་འདི། ། སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཤེས་རབ་བོ། ། རྫོགས་པའི་རིམ་དང་ལྷ་སྒྲུབ་སོགས། ། རྒྱུད་རྣམས་ཀུན་ལས་གསུངས་པས་ཀྱང་། ། དེ་ཉིད་དོན་དམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་མིན། ། དོན་དམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྟོབས་ཀྱིས་ནི། ། རྫོགས་པའི་ལྷ་ནི་གྲུབ་པར་འགྱུར། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་བདག་ནི་རྡོ་མཁན་དྷིས། ། བློ་དམན་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་མིན་པ། ། དོན་དམ་ཀུན་རྫོབ་གཉིས་མེད་བཤད། ། ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་གནས་ལུགས་གཏན་ལ་འབེབས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་རྡོ་མཁན་དྷིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

In the language of India: Mahāyānāvatāra-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Theg pa chen po’i gnas lugs gtan la ’bebs pa zhes bya ba. Homage to the glorious Heruka! The essence of the Great Vehicle is the nectar of the ocean of great bliss; it clears away the disease of the extremes and the center. Homage to the Great Joy! The supreme among all vehicles is the wisdom of the knower and the known; it is for the benefit of others, not for oneself. I shall now establish this. The awareness of the grasper and the grasped is endowed with its respective functions. Material things are the cause of bondage; since there is no external or internal form, that very reality is unestablished and non-dual. That which is grasped is form; because there is no grasping, that is reality itself. That is the sublime primordial wisdom, spontaneously present and free from color and shape. The wise realize it through self-knowing awareness. That awareness which is empty is neither non-empty nor is it [mere] awareness; all these [concepts] cease of their own accord. Through the yoga that is free from the two truths, this view of the awareness of emptiness is the insight of great compassion. Although the completion stage, deity accomplishment, and so forth are taught in all the tantras, they are not the ultimate primordial wisdom itself. By the power of ultimate primordial wisdom, the perfect deity is accomplished. Therefore, I, the stonemason Dhi, explain the non-duality of the ultimate and the conventional, which is not an object for those of inferior intellect. The Establishment of the Natural State of the Great Vehicle, composed by the great master Stonemason Dhi, is complete.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā . In ta

homonymཤེས་རབ is rendered “insight” here; the glossary also records discernment, wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཤེས་རབ “insight” — In this text shes rab seems to mean primarily knowledge (defined as insight and understanding one has gained through studying and experience), specifically knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha in general, and of karm

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

homonymཀུན་རྫོབ is rendered “conventional” here; the glossary also records conventional reality, relative for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཀུན་རྫོབ “conventional” — Conveys the relative or conventional view of the world according to the understanding of ordinary unawakened beings. This is distinguished from the ultimate truth, which conveys the understanding of phenomena as they rea

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termརིག་པ → knowledge

termཤེས་རབ → insight

termལྷ → god

termདོན་དམ → ultimate

Terminology used in this text (7)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
རིག་པ	knowledge	1	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
ཤེས་རབ	insight	1
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
དོན་དམ	ultimate	1
ཀུན་རྫོབ	conventional	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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